1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure generally relates to a method and apparatus for proximal authentication of a wireless electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet, which is a human-oriented connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of things (IoT) where distributed entities exchange and process information. The Internet of everything (IoE) has also emerged, which is a combination of the IoT technology and big data processing technology through connection with a cloud server.
As technology elements, such as sensing technology, wired/wireless communication, network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology, have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine to machine (M2M) network, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched for connection between things.
Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology (IT) services that create new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected car, smart grid, health care, smart appliances, advanced medical services, and so forth through convergence and combination between existing IT and various industries.
Electronic devices that provide various services using M2M or IoT technologies for sharing information by configuring a communication network between objects and devices have been developed. Such information sharing technologies enable communication between an object and an object, as well as between a human and a human and between a human and an object, making it possible to provide new additional value services by sharing information among all objects.
One of the techniques needed for communication between objects is mutual authentication for secure communication between the objects. Existing authentication techniques use, for example, a near field communication (NFC) or quick response (QR) code, in which users bring their devices into contact with counterpart devices by physical actions to obtain a public key for secure communication.
However, the above-described conventional techniques need the users' physical actions of bringing their devices into contact with the counterpart devices and obtain a public key merely through one channel, hindering strong security.